Swing

I thought it would be nice to have a video of her first time actually swinging, especially since daddy missed it. So, this is for daddy. I don't know why I always forget to hold the camera the right way.

First Trip to the Park

It was a nice day out (although a tad cold), so we took Lily's first trip to the park! Lily was really excited and she really enjoyed getting out of the house.

Lily's first time on the swing!

The girls were hilarious on the slide. Macy wanted to crawl into the play equipment and Lily wanted to throw herself down the slide.

I have so few pictures of me and Lily. Even though this one stinks, it's nice to have one.

Oooooooooooklahoma!

Lily and I went to Oklahoma again to visit Marcia and her family. It was so fun to see the family! I adore that Kye and it's so fun to see how Lily and Macie have grown into such different babies.

Lily is still thin and Macie a little chunk. Macie has long hair and Lily is almost bald. Some new developments include Lily's gag reflex with any food that's not super thin. Yet Macie can eat all sorts of adult foods. Macie is fearless with food and Lily won't even eat the baby puffs. They both have the Schmitt forehead and blue eyes. Lily is still a little unsteady on sitting up and grabbing at toys while Macie reaches out and moves around a bit. Macie also throws herself around quite dramatically and thinks it's really fun. Neither are crawling, though.

They were really cute together. They wanted to sit near each other to play and LOVED to steal each others binkies. It was so much fun!

First Tooth!

These are my attempts to get her new little tooth in a picture. It's her bottom right tooth. After lots of drool and some temperatures and hurt, she broke it through about two weeks ago! This one shows it, but it's pretty small and slobbery. I zoomed it in... hmmm...maybe we'll get a better picture when it's showing better.

Trying to be a good wife

Many thanks to Marcia and Jillyn who have each assisted me greatly in trying to be a better wife and homemaker...I LOVE this recipe combination!

Jillyn's White Bread Bowls

Recipe from Jillyn Nelson

(I halved the recipe)

4 cups water and 3 Tbls. yeast. Mix together and let sit for two minutes.

Then add and beat till smooth:

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup shortening

1/3 cup powdered milk

1/2 cup sugar

4 cups flour

Change the beaters to kneading attachment.

Add 4-5 more cups of flour a little at a time until desired consistency and dough

begins to pull away from sides of mixer. Knead for 3 minutes. Let rise in a greased

bowl until double in size. Pinch off balls and put on a greased pan. Let rise again. For bread bowls, they should be a large fist size. Cook at 350 for 20 minutes.

Butternut Squash Soup

Recipe from Marcia Schmitt

Ingredients:

4 T. unsalted butter

2 lbs. butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into ½ inch chunks

¾ c. chopped onion

¾ c. chopped celery

¼ c. apple juice

6 c. chicken broth

1 ½ t. vanilla extract

Instructions:

Heat butter in large saucepan until melted. Add all vegetables and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add apple juice and cook for 30 seconds. Add chicken broth. Heat to boiling. Then reduce heat and simmer, covered, until squash is tender (about 25 minutes). Remove from heat and add vanilla. Puree mixture with immersion blender and serve hot. Yields 8 one-cup servings.

Super healthy and so creamy you'd never know!

The Best

When I was asked to go back to work I knew that there was no way I could do it unless Lily could be in a place that was safe, happy and where she would be well cared for. I called my visiting teaching companion and friend, Jillyn, to ask if she knew of anyone who stayed home and might want to watch my lady part-time and temporarily. She said she might want to do that! Honestly, if I could choose someone to watch Lily, she would be on the top of my list. She has a little man who's almost 2 and she's an amazing mom. I was totally stoked!

Now it's been almost 3 months and I think it was meant to be. Lily has such a good time with Jill and Noah. She gets so excited when I put her in her car seat to go over in the morning. Sometimes I think I should just leave Lily over there cause they are SO good to her. Definitely way more fun than me. :)

The best is when Noah gives Lily kisses on her head. He calls her "the baby" and often calls out baby during Sacrament Meeting when he sees her. Is it too soon to plan an arranged marriage?

Jillyn and Noah are the BEST. We are so lucky to have them in our lives every day!

Belly Laughs

Parents will do anything to make their baby laugh.

Daylight Savings

Daylight savings has made our mornings pretty tough...

Pic

I just thought this picture was cute.

Uncle Terry & Aunt Alice

We are so lucky to have Aunt Alice and Uncle Terry living so close! We love having family home evening with them every Monday. Lily LOVES these guys!

Aunt Alice is so tender with Lily. She speaks so sweetly, snuggles her so softly and dresses her so lovingly. Lily loves the care she gets from Alice!

Lily loves cool Uncle Terry cause he acts so silly just to make her laugh, totally unembarrassed by the baby voice that comes out of his mouth. She can never get enough of Uncle Terry.

Baby Bows

My sister-in-law Jenn gave me this cute ribbon holder and she even filled it with bows! I was so excited, but alas, Lily had no hair at the time.


Lily has struggled a little on the hair growth, but last week I noticed that she has enough hair in her "mohawk" to clip a bow! The set of bows like the one below came from my mom. Thanks, mom! The polka dots match her pants!

These bows below were made for me by Domestic Denise.

And this one below is one of the ones Jenn made for me.

Man, I adore this baby. Being a mom rocks.